Artanis is a Bruiser style tank. More (effective HP) than Sonya but less damage, his role as a Warrior is maybe one of the most awkward. However, a well played Artanis will appear to be invincible in teamfights, and can dictate the positioning of key targets several times in a fight.

While his POTENTIAL eHP is the highest of Warriors, he's maybe the most impacted by CC in the game. His trait, Shield Overload is managed via your basic attacks, lowering it's CD by 4s (6s potentially @20). This means that if you're stunned, kited, blinded or otherwise unable to reach a target to auto-attack, you can be killed with getting only a single shield proc. Ranged Assassins such as Raynor and Valla are a massive mismatch for you.

Artanis is one of the most team/comp dependent tanks in the game. While you're certain to see several videos of amazing lopsided duels from this Hero in the coming weeks, keep in mind that you're unlikely to see those sort of things at higher MMRs.

Trait - Shield Overload: 20s CD; (186 + 42) HP

Artanis is very deceptive. One of the lowest HP Warriors in the game, Artanis can easily bait in targets that don't understand his Trait, or try to race it's CD. It's possible at later stages of the game to proc this shield so quickly it overlaps (and adds) to itself, making Artanis damn near unkillable. Against higher MMR targets, you'll need to constantly watch your Trait CD and make the most of it.

Q - Blade Dash: 65 MP; 10s CD; (30 + 5/lvl & 90 + 15/lvl) DMG

Blade Dash is going to be the ability that lets you know if the Artanis knows what the hell he's doing or not. Dash is most effective as a lane clear, doing similar damage to Sonya's full duration Whirlwind. It's moderately effective as a poke or dodge in safer, 1v1 type situations.

W - Twin Blades: 25 MP; 4s CD

The reason to play Artanis. This skill is both what makes him so tanky and so bursty @16. While all it does is let you land 2 basic attacks in rapid succession, it's TIMING that makes all the difference. The CD doesn't start until you actually fire off the attack, and it's 2x hits will proc your trait CD reduction.

E - Phase Prism: 70 MP; 14s CD; (50 + 5/lvl) DMG

The playmaker or the throw, Phase Prism has the potential to swing fights to your favor or throw them completely. A mini-root that then swaps your position with the target, the best use for this skill is to swap and then body block Heroes attacking your backline. Trying to avoid using this to swap for a kill unless the target is isolated and trying to run.

R1 - Purifier Beam: 80 MP; 80s CD; (98 + 16/lvl) DMG

This Ultimate can do extreme damage in a Wombo comp, or convince a high threat (low mobility) target like Kael, Jaina, or Sgt.Hammer to abandon the fight temporarily. I've taken this against teams with little to no auto attack damage, which is where the other Ultimate shines. It's particularly good against targets that want/need to stand still: Sgt. Hammer, Kael'thas with Pyroblast, Nazeebo with Ravenous Spirit, Azmodan.

R2 - Suppression Pulse 70 MP; 50s CD; (50 + 10/lvl) DMG

Due to the popularity of Raynor and the double/triple Warrior meta, I found myself taking this the most. It has a massive radius, and can be effectively used to establish a dominant foothold around objectives. Illidan, Thrall, Sgt. Hammer, Raynor are all severally disabled by this 4s Blind. Worth noting that the radius is so large, it's almost impossible for a Zeratul or Nova to escape the hit by just running.

Blade Dash

Blade Dash can be a trap skill. It does relatively low damage with an incredible amount of risk attached. With no invulnerability frame, any CC stops the Dash cold and a huge number of heroes can punish you for using it at all. Stuns, Roots, Poly, etc... all end the dash where you get hit.

Another thing to consider is that Blade Dash doesn't just make you pass through objects, but also makes you passable as well. If you start a Dash, the enemy tank line can move forward unopposed. In addition, because Dash brings you back to your point of origin, a moving teamfight will always leave you in a worse position than when you started. If you're chasing and you Dash, you're going to end up further away than when you started. If you're running and you Dash, the enemy will be closer than when you started.

There's a Lv4/7 Talent Combo of Templar's Zeal and Psionic Synergy that looks like it's good for teamfighting, but it's a trap. Your role is to keep enemies off your own backline, wear down tanks trying to push in, and punishing squishes that overextended. By Dashing at their backline to make use of these two talents, you're opening up your own backline. When your Dash is finished you've either taken so much damage as to negate the CD reduction of Psionic Synergy, or been stunned/rooted/poly'd/etc or killed by the enemies just collapsing on you. AND, to top it all off, now you're bodyblocked by their front line chasing your backline, while their backline has free reign to wail on you.

That said, Blade Dash isn't a bad skill. It's a solid wave clear, does reasonable damage to Mercs, and can still land kills on those 1% runners. Learn the distance on this skill and where you can safely fire it from to hit all the minions in a wave. I've also used it to dodge skill shots like Hook and even CC's like Grav-O-Bomb 3000.

It's just not great for teamfighting. Think of it like Zagara's Baneling Barrage, just lower damage and you're the baneling.

Twin Blades

Twin Blades is what makes Artanis so much different from other Heroes. Where most other Warriors want to try an push the backline, Artanis needs to be able to auto-attack as much as possible in order to stay in the fray. Because of Titan Killer with Triple Strike, your team can actually kill tanks in sustained teamfights much easier. A Lv20 Johanna for example will take just shy of 1200 burst damage from you every 4 seconds. Sitches and Diablo can take upwards of 1500. Adding in just your regular sustained damage, it's about 2000 DMG between each CD. Another option is Psionic Wound, which enables a bursty team to do even more damage than that.

Because of the way this interacts with your Passive, there's certain times you don't want to be using it. If you're creeping up on the 50% Proc range, you'll want to hold off using Twin Blades until your Shield has activated. There's actually and audio cue that lets you know it's about to be triggered (sounds like something powering up). Additionally, like Frostmourne Hungers, this ability will reset your auto attack CD. Timed right, you can lower your trait 12s instantly, when you need it most. Combined with Reactive Parry, this is a lot of mitigation. At Lv.20 with Force of Will this jumps to 18s.

Finally, because of how much damage Twin Blades can do and that it can result in permanent shields, Artanis is not bad at Merc Camps. The problem is that your health will get to 50% even if you start at full HP. If you think you won't get much use out of Reactive Parry and are on a map like Blackheart's Bay where some solo roaming is possible, consider taking Amateur Opponent.

Phase Prism

Phase Prism is tricky. It's like Shadow Charge and Overpower rolled into one. Hands down, it's best use is to peel for a friendly, but you can use it to secure kills or even steal objectives.

If your team's damage is high enough, and you're feeling tanky/supported enough, Zealot Charge is a LOT of fun. It allows you to chase and Prism so much easier, and can help your team land kills. On large open maps with lots of space in teamfights, Zealot Charge can even be a better pick than Titan Killer. It changes your ability to chase and peel from a distance, as well as making it nearly impossible to miss the Prism.

Prism's downsides are that landing it at max range often hurts you more than the person you grabbed. Artanis does not have much HP, and putting yourself deep in the backline while giving their frontline the ability to body block you is dangerous. Additionally, the people you'd most often swap with often have abilities like Haymaker or Condemn.

Things to note with Phase Prism:

You will slide through whatever the Prism passed through, but movement is normal for your opponent. If you try to trick Overpower someone on your gate, all that will happen is you sliding out while they're sliding against your wall. The Prism does stop anyone not an invulnerability frame, meaning you can snatch a Sylvanas mid- Haunting Wave, Illidan mid- Dive, Kharazim mid- Radiant Dash, etc..

Also worth noting that the Prism will not break roots. If you're stuck in an Entangling Roots and land Prism on a Malfurion, you'll stay put but Malf will still slide to you.

Ultimates

Purifier Beam has a large wind up time and is very easy to dodge. You really need your teammates to help keep your target CC'd or at least snared to make the most of this. If you used this solo, the best chance you have of getting the most damage out of it is to cast it on the target just before landing a Phase Prism on them. By the time they come out of the slide, the Beam is already firing in the direction they likely want to run, and you're body blocking them.

Suppression Pulse is awesome. 50s CD and a massive radius, you get multiple uses out of this spell. It can be used to force a stalking Zeratul or Nova to bail, and is very strong against the current Warrior-heavy meta. It forces auto-attack teams into a full retreat and can save friendlies when being chased by Assassins like Zeratul, The Butcher, Thrall, Raynor, and Tychus.

Level 1

Khaydarian Resonance- If you're going to be roaming a lot, you'll be trying to use Phase Prism to set up ganks more often. That said, if you land every Prism, you also played the game without a Lv1 Talent. It's hard to justify this one unless you're part of a roaming gank squad, which isn't exactly your strong point.

Reactive Parry - Stronger than traditional Block in that you can get twice as many charges, that also requires you stay in constant melee range of a target. More than likely this ends up netting you fewer charges than regular Block, but on demand. You can try and use this to counter some burst from the Focused Attack+ Follow Through style Heroes, or mitigate some healing from a Butcher's Brand. Overall the best general pick in the tier.

Amateur Opponent - While Artanis can Merc effectively, you'll always leave at 50% HP, which isn't the best way to start a teamfight. If you really don't need Reactive Parry then even Seasoned Marksman is a stronger choice than this.

Seasoned Marksman - On maps where you kill a lot of minions, like Sun Temple or Tomb of the Spider Queen, this is a solid pick. Artanis doesn't hit particularly hard, but because of Twin Blades he gets 2-3x the value from this talent than other Heroes with it.

Level 4

Shield Battery - Somewhat of a trap. You'll rarely get value out of this talent unless you take Shield Surge @16. Your shields aren't strong because they're a ton of HP, they're strong because the CD resets so quickly. And taking a Lv4 talent that gets no use until Lv16 isn't ideal.

Lethal Alacrity - While Blade Dash can get you in a lot of trouble, it can also get you out of a lot of trouble. This talent lets you start the Dash from outside vision, lowering your opponents chance to react. It also makes the total time spent "dashing" just about 10% faster. Also, since Dash can go through the enviornment, it allows you to take a peek at Merc camps and objectives from angles your opponents wouldn't expect, giving you a heads up on how safe an area is.

Chrono Surge - Better at first glance than in reality, this nets you about 1 more auto-attack over 4 seconds. Considering the delay in casting Phase Prism, it ends up breaking you even if you were already in melee range. Not quite strong enough to warrant a talent.

Templar's Zeal - Half of a combo for resetting your trait a bit faster, this talent encourages you to use Blade Dash much more frequently in teamfights, which is fairly dangerous considering how risky the move is. Worth noting that Dash is pretty expensive, and this talent will run you out of mana very quickly. Much like Thrall's Frostwolf Resilience, you need mana to stay in fights.

Level 7

Warp Sickness - Artanis already has a fairly large unit-frame, so body blocking after a successful Phase Prism isn't hard. The nice thing about the snare is that it lasts 3 seconds. Useful for swapping with a target that's between you and where you want to go, and then getting away. Because this shares a tier with better talents, I don't know if this will see much use.

Solarite Reaper - Raises Dash's first set of damage from 1/3 to 1/2 of the second set. This pretty much clears a minion wave in one shot at higher levels, or helps you jungle a little better. But the damage boost is very minimal.


Psionic Synergy - This talent alone isn't bad, especially if your opponents lack a lot of CC. The issue I've had with this talent is that it either encourages you to Dash into multiple targets more often, or sits there and does nothing. Even when it works, you need land 3 hits for it to even match the shield reduction of just plain auto-attacking.


Follow Through - Because Artanis has access to a 4s CD ability, you get a ton of use out of this. Especially if you didn't need to take Reactive Parry. While you only get the bonus damage on the first hit of a Twin Blades, it happens often enough that it does't really matter. This is strong on Artanis in the same way it's strong on Sonya, just to a lesser effect.

Level 10

Purifier Beam - This Ult has two uses: Zoning an enemy away from your team or an objective, or adding significant damage to a wombo-combo. Because 100% of the damage can be dodged, I'm not a huge fan of it. I've used it a few times, but in any game with a Raynor, The Butcher, or Illidan I took the other Ult.

Suppression Pulse - This Ult has a lot more flexibility in it's uses. I've used it to stop the cap on an objective, save a fleeing teammate from several mounted pursuers, or to absolutely halt the advance of an auto-attack heavy comp.

Level 13

Phase Bulwark - The best variation of Spell Shield in the game, this is incredibly powerful against spell heavy comps like Jaina/ Kael'thas. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the meta for some time. These days I think I've been seeing at least Sonya or Raynor in every game, and while Phase Bulwark gives a bit of value against them, this talent does nothing with no shields (due to heavy auto-attack).

Triple Strike - More damage and faster trait CD resets, I think this is the strongest talent in the tier. This makes your baseline trait reset in 12s (instead of 8), and 16s if you time Twin Blades right after an auto. With Force of Will @20, we're talking a complete reset every time you time Twin Blades properly.

Graviton Vortex - Basically Stiches's Shish Kabob. Because of the way you should be playing/positioning Artanis, this ability makes it even more likely to pull a tank towards your backline, and puts and even bigger wall between you and your support. Has just as much potential to make good plays as bad ones.

Burning Rage - Adds a tiny bit more damage and can help find stealthies, but overall is mainly a pick for waveclear. Triple Strike does by far more single target, especially with one of the Lv16 talent choices.

Level 16

Shield Surge - This is a great talent if you find yourself getting focused a lot. Combined with Triple Strike an Force of Will, this is just a ton of HP over the course of a fight. This is also the only talent that makes Shield Battery from Lv4 worth while. If you're going raw tank build, this is what you'll take.

Zealot Charge - Probably the most fun way to play Artanis. With this you can actually chase down targets and almost positively land a Phase Prism on them. Great for punishing over-extenders, or catching up to a target chasing a teammate then swapping them behind you. It also keeps your auto-attacking uptime to a maximum, which can be much more valuable than the added damage of Titan Killer.

As a side note, Zealot Charge can be "tricked" into multiple uses. If you catch up to your target and selected a new target mid-charge, you can cover some MASSIVE distance. You will charge so long as Twin Blades is active, and it doesn't deactivate until you land a basic attack. It's hard to pull off, but looks awesome when you do (ie, will probably get nerfed).

Titan Killer - Giant Killer on steroids. This is what makes a Triple Strike build so scary. In addition to the 3x attacks themselves, you'll also do 7.5% of their HP in damage. For teamfights that seem to carry on for a long time, this ability can make short work of tanks. The current meta seems to play out in longer fights, so I've gotten the most success out of this.

Psionic Wound - If your team seems fairly organized and willing to follow your lead, it's hard to pass up this talent. Since it's applied on the final hit, it doesn't increase your damage very much. But if you're rolling with several assassins or one bursty one, this talent is probably the best.

Level 20

Orbital Bombardment - I like this talent a lot, because it allows you to use your Ult 2-3 times in the course of a teamfight. The 4s Blind is the strongest in the game, and absolutely shuts down more than a few Heroes. A surprise early Suppression Pulse alone can turn a teamfight and win the game.

Target Purified - This is the only talent I didn't get to try, as I generally took Force of Will. Because the cast itself starts over, this was incredibly disruptive the one match I faced it in.

Force of Will - If you took Triple Strike this can make you a real tank. You can still be contained/controlled and killed by lots of CC, but this is an incredibly potent combo. If you're being kept busy fighting Heroes pushing into your backline, they will have to coordinate CC on you to actually kill you.

Nexus Blades - Stronger on you than other Warrior types, if you find yourself to need a lot more damage and have no issues tanking, this isn't a bad pick. Causes your Triple Strike to do about 1000 damage @20, without accounting for Titan Killer.

There are three things to consider when facing an Artanis:

1. He's only tanky when he's hitting you.
2. He's very vulnerable to ALL CC's.
3. He can't run away quickly.


For these reasons, he's very weak against ranged Heroes with either good sustain or high damage. Raynor in particular is a perfect example. He has high range, high damage, and high kiting ability.

Additionally, Artanis will go to 50% HP without much effort. Don't assume because he's half dead that he's actually in trouble. A smart Artanis will push in at you while surrounded by your minions, so that if you run or kite he can still get his CD reduction as needed.

An organized CC chain can makes short work of any Hero, but Artanis is particularly weak to it as he needs to be actively attacking to stay alive. Blinds are incredibly useful as it cancels 8s Shield CD reduction if Twin Blades misses. Additionally, if Artanis is on the run and you can attack him from range, he'll only get the single shield proc and is VERY soft once it's gone.

Finally, be on the look out for a bad Blade Dash. If you can land any type of non-snare CC on him mid-Dash, it will cancel the move right where he stands. If he Dashes after you through your Fort/Keep Gate for example and you stun/root him inside, he's stuck (and probably dead). Same goes for teamfights. The Dash has a medium to long range and can be easily punished with well-timed abilities. Storm Bolt, Entangling Roots, Hook: All very capable of punishing an over-zealous Blade Dash.

Artanis can't be a straight up tank by himself. A lot like Sonya, when he's properly supported he can be very tanky, but also fairly dangerous. Because of his lacking mobility, he'll need to position himself closer to his teammates to better protect them, either by body blocking or peeling via Phase Prism.

While he's weaker to CC than most, he's also very weak to ranged damage. If you see him struggling against a ranged DPS, try to either help him or swap entirely.

Because his toolkit is balanced around a lack of mobilty, mobility granting skills are very potent on him. Speed Metal, Breath of Heaven, Evasive Shielding are several examples. In addition, attack speed buffs make him directly tankier in addition to dealing more damage. Adrenal Overload and Rockstar are great.

Like Sonya, Artanis is an anti-tank. He's very good and keeping your backline secure, and can punish other melee that engage him in sustained combat. Anti-tanks in general need to be your 2nd or 3rd Warrior, not a solo one. They're a direct counter to tanks due their balanced damage and survivability.

Lastly, Artanis makes the perfect tank for Merc camps. If you're playing a support and Artanis is tanking, you don't have to heal him unless you're concerned about a gank. If you let him get to 50%, he will end up negating a ton of the camps damage. Feel free to heal him up after the camp is dead, but you can save the mana until lower HP ranged (if you think it's safe).